Think about watching a sports match between two teams, where one team is more confident than the other.  The members of the more confident team know that they have a good chance of winning. As a result, everyone on the team makes good decisions, and the players work together seamlessly. Meanwhile, the other team’s confidence is shaky. Players doubt their abilities, they hesitate, and they don’t commit fully to any particular course of action. When this happens, it’s likely that the more confident team will win.

The same principles apply in the workplace – when you have people on your team who have low self-confidence, this can hold them back from reaching their full potential. This is why it’s important that we do what we can to boost the confidence of those around us, especially if we’re leading a team.

Recognizing Low Self-Confidence

People who lack self-confidence rarely thrive. They see more risks than opportunities, they don’t perform particularly well in new situations, and they often have low self-esteem. What’s more, they rarely trust their own judgment, and they may see any successes that they do achieve as resulting from luck, rather than from their own efforts.

By contrast, people who have high self-confidence are more productive and more effective, and can raise the morale of the entire group. They’re also more comfortable taking risks, which can have benefits for their own careers, as well as for their teams.

Confidence can make or break people’s ability to achieve their life goals. So how can you help boost the self-confidence of the people around you?

Help Them Develop Knowledge and Skills

Chances are that there are several skills you rely on to do your job well. When you use these skills successfully, what happens? You feel confident! These are the skills that you’ve worked on over the years, and you’re comfortable that you can use them to accomplish the task at hand.

The same is true for the people on your team. The stronger their skills are, the more confident they’re going to feel.

So a good way to increase the self-confidence of people in your team is by encouraging learning, and by providing plenty of opportunities for additional training. The more knowledge and skills that people have to do their job, the more confident they’re going to feel, especially when they approach challenging projects.

Set Clear Goals, and Help Them Achieve it

Many people get confidence from completing tasks and projects successfully. But that confidence only comes if people know what it is that they’re supposed to do.

This is why it is so important to set clear goals for every member of your team. Goals define success, and give people an objective to shoot for. Without them, they’re working aimlessly.

So make sure that the people on your team know what goals they’re supposed to be working toward, and help them to achieve these goals. Then, when they succeed, celebrate their achievements!

Encourage Autonomy

If you want your team to tackle tasks with confidence, it’s important that you allow them the autonomy to make their own decisions. When your people have the power to decide what needs to be done, they start to take ownership of their work. It truly becomes their responsibility, and when they succeed, their confidence can soar.

Whenever you can, delegate tasks, and give your people the power to make their own decisions.

Be aware, however, that people who have low self-confidence may resist this at first: after all, they may doubt that they’ll make the right decisions. To fight these doubts, encourage them to take on small, achievable projects. Then, if they rely on you too much for help or guidance, encourage them to be more independent.

Celebrate Success

It’s important that all of us celebrate the success we’ve achieved, because recognition of success builds self-confidence.

Whenever your people accomplish a goal or hit a key target, then celebrate with them! Reward them (member-only article) with a party at the office, or even do something small like bringing in cookies or cake. At the very least, congratulate them on their success, and let them know how much you appreciate their hard work.

It’s also important to keep your team excited about what they’re doing. Celebrating success helps with this, but keeping motivation high long-term is key to building a team with high confidence levels.

Encourage Positive Thinking

Many people who lack self-confidence focus on negative thoughts. They may think things like, “I can’t do that!” or “I’m not smart enough.” These negative thoughts cause people to spiral down further, reinforcing their belief that they’ll never be good enough to succeed. Of course, this just makes things worse!

Encourage people to think positively. One technique is to show them how to “flip their thoughts” – every time they catch themselves thinking a negative thought, teach them to think its rational opposite.

For instance, if they think “I’m not smart enough to finish this project,” instead they should think “I know I have the knowledge and skills to finish this project. If I do need help, I can always ask for it.”

Balancing Self-Confidence and Over-Confidence

When people become more self-confident there’s always the risk they can become over-confident, or even arrogant. There’s no doubt that there is a fine line here, but once it’s crossed, these people can start to impact the morale and productivity of the group in a negative way. What’s worse is when people get careless, because they over-estimate their own ability to improvise in difficult situations.

If this happens to a person on your team, start by gently bringing the situation to her attention. Chances are that she might not have realized that she’s crossed the line into arrogance. Meet with her in private, be specific about what she’s saying or doing, and explain why her behavior could be construed as arrogance.

Key Points

If you work with people who have low self-confidence, there are several ways that you can help.

First, encourage them to develop additional knowledge and skills. Help them set clear goals, and sit down with them to identify specific situations that cause their confidence to plummet.

If you’re leading a team, give your people as much power as you can to make their own decisions, and celebrate the success they achieve along the way. But remember that too much self-confidence can be just as damaging to your team as low self-confidence, so help them find the right balance.

However, there are ways to manage your email so that you’re more productive. We’ll explore strategies for doing this, so that you can get on with the real work at hand.

Key Points:

• Most of us feel overwhelmed by email. Although it’s a great communication tool, more often than not it’s overused. By managing it effectively, you can significantly boost your productivity.
• To gain control of your inbox, start by checking and processing email only at certain times during the day. If you’re concerned about the delayed response, let people know that you don’t check your email constantly.
• Also, try to keep your inbox as clear as possible. Organize mail using folders like “Action”, “Waiting” and “Archives”. And when you do check mail, use the two minute rule – any email that can be read and responded to in two minutes or less should be handled right then.
• You can also reduce your incoming mail by asking people to send you less, and by advocating effective email and communication strategies in your organization.

Checking Email

Checking your email regularly during the day can be an effective way to keep your inbox at manageable levels. This is so obvious, but sometimes we only check mails at the end of the day (if you don´t have a Blackberry!)

Check Email at Set Times

The constant interruption and distraction that comes from checking email can dramatically lower your productivity, so one strategy you can use is to check email only at set points during the day. For instance, you may decide that you’ll only check your email first thing in the morning, before lunch, and at the end of the day.

Here, it helps to set your email software to download messages only at certain times, so that you’re not distracted by incoming messages. If you can’t do this, at least make sure that audible and visual alerts are turned off.

When to Check Email

You can also reserve time to read and respond to email after a long period of focused work, or at the time of day when your energy and creativity are at their lowest (this means that you can do higher value work at other times). Our article, Is This a Morning Task? (members-only) will help you identify when you’re feeling least energetic, so that you can schedule time appropriately.

If you’re concerned that your colleagues, boss, or clients will be annoyed or confused that you’re not responding to their email quickly, explain that you only check email at certain times, and that they can call you or use instant messaging,  if the matter is really urgent.

Reading Email

When it comes to reading email, you can waste hours if you don’t use this time well.

The Two-Minute Rule

First, try using the “Two-Minute Rule” (a concept from David Allen, the author of “Getting Things Done”) – if the email will take less than two minutes to process (a quick read, and a short answer) then take care of it right now, even if it’s not a high priority.

Schedule Time

For emails that will take longer than two minutes to read or respond to, schedule time on your calendar, or add this as an action on your To-Do List.  Most email programs will allow you to highlight, flag, or star messages that need a response, so utilize this handy feature whenever you can.

Organizing Email

Can you imagine having an inbox with nothing in it? It almost sounds too good to be true!  Although a completely empty inbox (also called “inbox zero”) might be unrealistic for many of us, keeping our main inbox cleared can make us more organized, and help eliminate stress.

You could use broad categories titled “Action Items,” “Waiting,” “Reference,” and “Archives.” If you’re able to stay on top of your folders – particularly “Action” and “Waiting” folders – you could use them as an informal To-Do List for the day.

If four categories sounds too simplistic for your needs, you can set up a more detailed system. For instance, you could create a folder for every project that you’re working on, or have a set folder for each of your clients or sales reps.

The best approach to use can depend on how quickly you need to access a specific email. If you need instant access (for example, if clients often call you to discuss emails) you may want to file into folders. If you don’t, then desktop search may be all that you need.

Using Rules

Most email programs, such as Outlook and Gmail, allow you to establish “Rules” to help with sorting email into particular folders.

For instance, you might get several emails per day notifying you of sales that your company has made. You want to receive these, because you want to see what’s happening, but you don’t want them to clutter your Inbox.

This is where you could set up a Rule in your email program that moves emails with “Sale Notification:” in the subject line straight to the “Sales Made” folder as soon as they come in. This frees up your time from filing these emails, and allows you to keep all sales emails in one folder.

Non-Essential Email

If you regularly receive email such as newsletters, blogs and article feeds, consider having them re-routed to another email address, or use rules, so that they’re instantly delivered to a particular folder.  This will help keep your primary inbox clear, and they’ll be in one place, ready for you to read at a convenient time.

Good Team Habits

One of the best things that you can do, to limit the amount of email you need to process, is encourage your team to send you less.

For instance, if certain team members regularly send you long-winded emails, let them know. Tell them gently but firmly that because of the demand on your time, you’d appreciate emails no longer than a paragraph or two. Anything longer than that should warrant a phone call. Alternatively, they could drop by your office for a discussion.

Imagine that you work in a classic autocratic organization, and your boss follows every little rule. He oversees each detail of every project and task – and he seems to believe that you and the rest of the team are incapable of performing without him help at every step.

This, in turn, has created an oppressive and discouraging work environment. Productivity is low, and many people have left to go to organizations that are less controlling and more empowering.

Does your boss watch over everything that you do?

So how can you improve your situation? How can you get your boss – and perhaps your organization – to trust you more?

Working in a micromanaged environment isn’t easy. I ‘ll highlight the disadvantages of micromanagement, and I’ll explore what you can do if your boss micromanages you.

Disadvantages of Micromanagement

There are several disadvantages to a micromanagement style of leadership:

It can hurt creativity – When your boss constantly checks up on you and tells you what to do, you have no power to think for yourself. This limits the solutions that you might find on your own.

It can cause you stress – Often, micromanagers make you feel as if nothing you do is good enough. This type of working relationship can make even small tasks seem overwhelming.

It can waste time - When your boss constantly holds meetings and gives instructions, he limits the time you could be working on productive tasks.

It can hold you back professionally – Because you’re dependent on your manager for every task, you don’t take responsibility for yourself and for your work. This limits your growth and development, which may impact your career.

So, what can you do about it?

Critique Yourself

First, it’s important to find out why your boss is micromanaging you. If he behaves this way only with you, then perhaps you’re the cause.

Look honestly at your own work and habits. Have you ever given your boss a reason to mistrust you? Does disorganization or poor time management cause you to miss important deadlines? Do you find it hard to concentrate, or communicate poorly? Or do you fail to follow up on important leads or emails that your boss sends you?

These are tough questions. It’s hard to look at yourself and your work objectively…

So, you are waiting for a promotion you dreamed about. You think that your technical expertise and your ability to reach performance goals consistently, makes a good candidate to become a manager.

Any management promotion can be a challenge, but it’s especially hard on people with strong technical skills, but who have little or no management experience.

We’ll explore how to make the transition, and what you can do to excel in your new role. We’ll also include links to several other resources that can help you strengthen the skills you need for success.

Management Challenges

Technical experts are often promoted because they have recognized knowledge and skills in their field. Whether it’s IT, finance, sales, or marketing, they know their jobs very well. After all, that’s what got them noticed!

The problem is that organizations often promote people based on these technical skills, not on their management skills. And many organizations offer very little support to new managers.

You first need to recognize that your technical knowledge may not help much in your new management role. Why? Because instead of just focusing on your own skills and successes, you now have to focus on the skills and successes of your team. Your mindset has to change.

This is where many technical managers make their biggest mistakes. Instead of paying attention to the “people aspect” of their new role, they continue to do what they’ve always done: work on their own projects and technical skills. But if you ignore your team and their needs, you’re going to alienate them quickly.

Skills You Need

The good news is that you can succeed – and succeed spectacularly – in your management role. To do so, however, you must learn a new set of skills, including:

Delegation - As a manager, you must know how to delegate tasks to your team effectively. This will keep you from spending time doing things that should no longer be your responsibility.

Briefing - You need to keep your team up to date on their progress, what you expect from them, and what will happen in the future.

Motivation - Your team is now your responsibility. This means that you must keep them motivated and moving forward. Our article Herzberg’s Motivators and Hygiene Factors will teach you how to discover what truly motivates your people.

Communication - In your previous role, good communication might have been helpful, but not vital. But now, as a manager, the ability to communicate well is essential to your success.

Discipline - At some point, you’ll probably have to discipline someone on your team. Whether a team member is breaking rules, under-performing, or upsetting others, it’s up to you to restore peace. Knowing how to discipline effectively (members only) and diplomatically is key to keeping your team’s trust and respect.

Recruitment - If your team is changing or expanding, then you’ll have to hire new people, but finding the right people can be difficult. Our Recruiting Skills Bite-Sized Training session will help you get better results with your recruitment efforts (members only).

Tips for Making the Transition to Manager

Personal Analisys - Make a list of what you must improve to be a better manager for your team. Many managers let others assess their skills, and then wait until their performance review to discover what skills they lack. Don’t make this mistake – spend time now identifying your weaknesses, so that you can start improving on them immediately.

Stay away from technical work – Resist the temptation to get involved with technical projects that aren’t your responsibility. Yes, you probably enjoy this type of work and want to feel successful doing something you know well, but this is now your team’s responsibility. Spending too much time doing technical work will only hold you back as a manager. Sure, it’s good to pitch in when you can, but make sure that you do the managing part of your role first.

Meet with every team member – Make it a priority to meet with everyone on your team personally. Find out what interests and motivates them, and check that they have everything they need to be happy and successful in their role. This shows that you’re taking an interest in them, and it helps you get to know the people you’re managing.

Learn one skill at a time – Acquiring a whole new set of skills for your new management position can be overwhelming. Don’t try to learn everything at once. Focus on one skill at a time, so that you can learn each skill well.

Do you get excited about everything you need to do? Or do you sometimes need a bit of help to get started, never mind getting the task done?

Maybe you’re continuing to ignore those overflowing filing cabinets, instead of taking some time out to reorganize them. Or, you’re avoiding that difficult conversation with a person who is always late, choosing instead to tolerate the tardiness. Perhaps you keep rearranging your priorities, so that the tasks you hate stay at the bottom of the list.

The longer you delay doing something, the more stress and pressure you’re likely to feel. After a while, you may even start to lose confidence in your ability to complete the task at all.

Many of us sometimes need help getting motivated. And it can be very frustrating when we know we have to do something, but we just can’t get around to making a start. So how can we motivate ourselves to do these things?

Motivation Basics

There are essentially two types of motivation:

Intrinsic motivation – This is when you are motivated by internal factors to meet your own personal needs. Most hobbies and leisure activities are based on intrinsic motivation. We do them because we enjoy them, not because we have to.

Extrinsic motivation - This is when you are motivated by external factors that are given or controlled by others, for example, by salary or by praise. Our jobs are usually based on extrinsic motivation, although there will be some intrinsic motivation involved if you enjoy aspects of what you do.

Most situations at work involve both types of motivation. If we do a job we enjoy, some of the work we do will be intrinsically motivating. Realistically though, we probably wouldn’t go to work if we weren’t being paid! Enjoying your job is intrinsically motivating, while being paid a good salary to do it is extrinsically motivating.

Even if we do a job we enjoy, problems can crop up where we need to do something that we don’t inherently like – such as filing, speaking with staff about performance issues, completing reports, and so on. We have to do undesirable tasks as part of our job, so we have to find a way to motivate ourselves to complete them. That’s where self-motivation is necessary.

To motivate yourself, you must examine and understand your needs, so that you know what you find valuable and rewarding. Then, by changing your environment and perspective, you can find the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to complete those undesirable tasks. So, rather than relying on other factors to make a task more rewarding, you make it more rewarding yourself.

Self-Motivation Strategies

Just as there are two types of motivation, there are two main strategies for motivating yourself:

You make the task more intrinsically satisfying.

You provide your own extrinsic rewards.

Using a combination of both is often the most effective way to motivate yourself. So, you have to find further intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to get those undesirable tasks done. Here are some tactics that you can use motivate yourself:

Change your attitude and approach to undesirable tasks – For example, the task of reorganizing your filing cabinet may not be motivating in itself. But being seen as a competent and organized person might provide intrinsic motivation for you. By thinking of filing in this way, for example, you can connect completing the task with meeting your needs.

Think about why you do what you do - Sometimes you may start to think that your job is pointless, so why bother to do things? A great way to increase self-motivation is to list all of the positive outcomes of your job. If you’re on the cleaning staff in a hospital, ultimately your job keeps patients safe from germs and disease. If you sell office equipment, you’re helping people to work more efficiently.

Set goals - By setting goals you’ll know exactly what you need to do to achieve what you want in life. Then, by looking at this “bigger picture”, you’ll be able to see how those undesirable tasks can help you reach your goals, and you’ll be able to see “what’s in it for you” to complete these tasks.

Break your tasks down into smaller pieces – Organizing the entire filing cabinet may be too large a task to do all at once. Start alphabetically, or with the first section of files. Then, when you complete the first group, you can use your success with the smaller tasks to motivate you to finish.

Build in accountability – Tell you colleagues or manager about your task. It can help to motivate you if you know that someone else is expecting you to complete the task.

Don’t procrastinate – When low motivation and procrastination occur together, it can be doubly hard to get things done. See our article on beating procrastination for more on dealing with this.

Reward yourself – Make an agreement with yourself to give yourself a reward when you complete a task. For example, buy yourself a specialty coffee for completing smaller tasks, or send yourself to the spa for a massage when you finish a major one.

Scare yourself with the negative consequences of not doing it – If not doing the task is going to get you in trouble with your boss, focus on this, and scare yourself into doing it!

Swap tasks with a colleague – Maybe you can trade your undesirable task with someone else who doesn’t mind doing it, and you can do something for that person in return. Use each other’s needs, interests and talents to work more efficiently.

Surround yourself with positive thoughts and people – Positive thinking is very powerful. Just telling yourself that you can do something is often all you need to get started. And when you’re around other positive people, they’ll support and encourage you to keep trying.

Create an accomplishment log – Use this to record all of the times when you were able to motivate yourself to complete a task or keep moving forward. The log can inspire you the next time you need some extra motivation.

Do you waste much time during your day due to disorganization?
Perhaps you spend 5 minutes searching for a misplaced file, another 5 looking for an email detailing an important meeting, and perhaps 10 minutes more finding today’s to-do list, lost in the piles of papers on your desk. Before you know it, you’ve spent an hour throughout the day looking for things you can’t find. And that’s just one day! Imagine how much time you’re losing each week, each month, and each year!

Many people struggle with disorganization. And, while some think they can succeed amidst the chaos, this disorganization can end up costing a high price. Disorganization can hold us back from getting the promotion we’ve always wanted. It can block our creativity, add stress to our lives, and prevent us from being as productive andeffective as we could be.

Organizing Best Practices

• Make a plan: This is so obvious, but is the most important thing to do. After that, stick to the plan!
• Use a notebook – One strategy that many organized people use is to work with a notebook. This notebook is like a “catch-all” for your thoughts and for what you do during the day.For instance, use your notebook to take notes when you’re talking with a colleague or with a client on the phone. If you’re working and need to remember to tell your boss something, write it down in your notebook. If you have a brainstorming session in the afternoon, your ideas can go in there too.The advantage of a notebook is that you capture all of your thoughts, conversations, and ideas in one place. Also, once things are written down, you don’t have to waste mental energy remembering everything!It’s helpful to start a new, dated page each day. This way, you can easily go back and find the information you need.
• Get organized during the first 15 minutes of your day – When you walk into the office in the morning, spend your first 15 minutes looking at what you need to do that day. Start with the “Next Actions” list from your Action Plan, if you have one – or make a TO-DO list, with your most important priorities at the top. This gives you a solid grasp of which tasks you need to complete first, and which you can complete later in the afternoon.During this organization time, knowing when you do your best work can also be helpful.
• Clear your desktop – Your desktop can often become a “catch-all” zone. There are old papers, future projects, files you’re currently using, and a pile of papers you simply haven’t put away yet. Although some people feel they work better with a cluttered desk, it’s distracting and inhibiting for many of us.If you want to get organized, then clearing your desktop is a smart strategy. This can be a time-consuming task, so it might be best to work on this at the end of the day or at the weekend.

Organizing Tools

We live in a time of some amazing technology. Let’s use it to get organized!

• Use digital calendars or planners – Many people use these to help organize their schedules. These can be very helpful for keeping you on task!For instance, many digital calendars, like Outlook and iCal, allow you to color-code tasks. You could use red for urgent, green for extended deadlines, and blue for low-priority tasks. Color-coding your day helps you quickly see what you need to do first.
• Use a spreadsheet to track your progress – Spreadsheets are helpful because you can use conditional formatting that alerts you when tasks are getting close to their deadlines. As a result, you can see at a glance which items are, or are not, on schedule. This is especially helpful when you’re working with a team, and when you have to be aware of people’s progress.

Organizing Tricks

• Offer yourself a reward – If you’re finding it difficult to stay organized, try offering yourself a reward. For instance, if you complete four things on your to-do list, reward yourself with a cup of coffee, or with 10 minutes of free time to surf the web.
• Use one calendar – If you enter some things in your PDA, some things on your desk planner, and some on a calendar at home, then you’re probably going to miss key appointments and tasks.
• Schedule small tasks – If a task or project requires action beforehand (like picking up bagels and coffee for the staff meeting), then schedule these related tasks into your planner as well. This helps you set aside enough time to get everything done.
• Scan your documents – If you don’t like having an office with lots of filing cabinets, then why not scan all of your documents and store them on your computer? If you have a personal assistant, this would be a great task to delegate. If not, then try scanning a few documents every day, and eventually scan all project documents over the long-term.
• Choose organizing tools that you like – Pick products that appeal to you on a visual or emotional level. For example, if you decide to start using a notebook on a daily basis, then purchase a nice one that you really like. When your tools are visually appealing and comfortable, you’re more likely to use them.

Key Points

Disorganization can cost you career advancement, decrease your productivity, and add stress to your life. Devoting time and effort to getting organized can help you tremendously in the long run.

Start by using a notebook on a regular basis to keep track of conversations, ideas, and reminders. And begin every day with a clean desk and an organized to-do list. Use technology to keep your schedule and projects running smoothly. Features like color coding and audio alarms can help you ensure that you don’t miss appointments or deadlines.

Think of how often you communicate with people during your day. You write emails, facilitate meetings, participate in conference calls, create reports, devise presentations, debate with your colleagues… the list goes on.

Team building skills are critical for your effectiveness as a manager or entrepreneur. And even if you are not in a management or leadership role yet, better understanding of team work can make you a more effective employee and give you an extra edge in your corporate office.

 A team building success is when your team can accomplish something much bigger and work more effectively than a group of the same individuals working on their own. You have a strong synergy of individual contributions. But there are two critical factors in building a high performance team.

•  The first factor in team effectiveness is the diversity of skills and personalities. When people use their strengths in full, but can compensate for each other’s weaknesses. When different personality types balance and complement each other.
• The other critical element of team work success is that all the team efforts are directed towards the same clear goals, the team goals. This relies heavily on good communication in the team and the harmony in member relationships. 

In real life, team work success rarely happens by itself, without focused team building efforts and activities. There is simply too much space for problems. For example, different personalities, instead of complementing and balancing each other, may build up conflicts.

 Here are some additional team building ideas, techniques, and tips you can try when managing teams in your situation:

•Make sure that the team goals are totally clear and completely understood and accepted by each team member.

•Make sure there is complete clarity in who is responsible for what and avoid overlapping authority. For example, if there is a risk that two team members will be competing for control in certain area, try to divide that area into two distinct parts and give each more complete control in one of those parts, according to those individual’s strengths and personal inclinations.

•Build trust with your team members by spending one-on-one time in an atmosphere of honesty and openness. Be loyal to your employees, if you expect the same.

•Allow your office team members build trust and openness between each other in team building activities and events. Give them some opportunities of extra social time with each other in an atmosphere that encourages open communication.

•For issues that rely heavily on the team consensus and commitment, try to involve the whole team in the decision making process. What you want to achieve here is that each team member feels his or her ownership in the final decision, solution, or idea.

•When managing teams, make sure there are no blocked lines of communications and you and your people are kept fully informed. Even when your team is spread over different locations, you can still maintain effective team communication.

•Be careful with interpersonal issues. Recognize them early and deal with them in full.

 •Don’t miss opportunities to empower your employees. Say thank you or show appreciation of an individual team player’s work.

•Don’t limit yourself to negative feedback. Be fare. Whenever there is an opportunity, give positive feedback as well.

Build a team is a hard job, so don´t try to put all the tips in practice at the same time. Maybe you can start with two or three, when you feel ready, you can add two more. Your effort to build a high performance team is well worth it.

New Year, time to think, time to check out if  our goals were accomplished. But it is important, be prepared for the new year… So, I would like to share some ideas to be ready.

1. Set smaller goals with smaller steps

Gradual small steps motivate people toward larger change.

If you want to lose weight, for example, change small aspects of your eating pattern. Resolve to have a salad tomorrow for lunch, and then do that for a week.

Write down the steps you want to take in a datebook to make it concrete, and reward yourself for making the individual changes, she said.

Let’s say you want to work on being more optimistic this year. Nolen-Hoeksema recommends imagining what you would be like if you were optimistic. Imagine yourself going through a day at work if you were optimistic and confident, then write that down in great detail.

Now, you have specific aspects of that ideal of optimism to work toward. Pick one thing that the optimistic you is doing that you’re not, and start working in that direction, she said.

2. Frame your goals positively

Despite the proven health risks of certain habits, such as smoking, thinking about a habit in the negative will not help you nix it. Studies have shown that it’s hard to get motivated about avoiding cancer, but easier to think about smelling better and saving money as reasons to quit smoking.

So, if you want to quit doing something, think about the positive aspects of not doing it. And make sure you reward yourself for sticking to the plan along the way.

3. Look at the pros and cons

If you’re on the fence about whether you should make a change this year, make a list of the benefits and costs.

Pay attention to what’s driving you, she said. Sometimes it’s pain that motivates people to change, or a new phase of life, or new information, or a possible promotion.

4. Get a resolutions buddy

Knowing that someone else is working toward similar goals, or is supporting you in your endeavors, helps to keep motivation up. Having a new year’s resolution buddy who’s keeping track of your progress helps keep you accountable for what you’ve done.

At the end of every year, Kaslow and her friend review all of their goals from the prior year, examining what the obstacles were to change and then developing new goals for the next year.

Planning for goals with someone can guide you in the path towards change, even if you don’t don’t accomplish everything in a single year.

5. Be specific

It’s easy to get discouraged by a broad goal like “I’m going to improve my marriage,”. Figure out exactly what it is that’s not working for you, and then formulate a strategy for solving individual problems.

In the marriage example, it’s important to get realistic about what it is about your marriage that needs improvement. Then, spend some time keeping a diary and tracking what’s going right and what’s not, and come up with one thing you can do per week that would help the situation.

The process of assessing the small actions you can take in the immediate future, and savoring the positive effects, can take a lot of pressure off and help you achieve larger goals, she said.

6. Know thyself

The start of the year is as good a time as any to take inventory of yourself. What are your passions? What do you want to be doing better? Take the time think about who you are and how you want life to be.

Real change happens because you yourself want it, not because others want it for you, experts say.

7. Examine deeper issues

Sometimes there are problems that need to be addressed before people can move forward with the change they want.

In some cases there are psychological impediments to making changes. For example, some people fear failure so much that they unknowingly sabotage themselves. Self-esteem may also play a role — some people don’t feel they’re worthy of being taken care of, he said.

If you think that there are deeper issues preventing you from moving forward in your life in some way, consult a mental health professional.

8. Don’t be overanxious

Having a long list of lofty resolutions can create anxiety, so Nolen-Hoeksema recommends choosing anywhere between three and five overarching things to change.

Writing down your goals and how you plan to achieve them is a good way to beat anxiety.

9. Be flexible

Although you should be specific about what you want to do, sometimes it helps to broaden your vision of what you’re trying to accomplish. For instance, if you’ve been laid off from your job in the financial sector, it may not be immediately possible to find a similar position.

But if you are on the job market, the broader goal might be to support yourself or your family. Having a wider vision of what constitutes success can free you up to explore other options that do help with the central purpose.

10. Keep your eye on the ball

Changing behaviors is especially difficult when other people around you encourage habits you’re trying to kick, or if you are under stress. For instance, if you’re a recovering alcoholic and having a bad day, it might be hard to resist if someone says.

Kind Regards.
Alberto